RL relaxed his grip on the steering wheel so his knuckles didn’t show white. “Just so we understand each other.”
Hunter turned her head so the men in the front seat couldn’t see, and winked at Adan.
RL drove in silence after his confrontation with Pablo, with occasional surreptitious glances in the rearview mirror to glimpse Hunter’s legs. They passed through the village of San Jose De Las Piedras, where some poor families lived in - and under - great hollowed out boulders at the mountain’s base, but they did not stop there.
When they crossed through the pass and by the mountain where the large, castle-like palisade stones they called La Cuesta de Malena crowned the top, and named after a woman who for decades sold coffee and small breakfast meals to miners and vehicle drivers working at the mines in the area. The sun caught the formation and it gleamed like a palette of pale cream and rose and orange brush strokes of color.
The terrain remained a mix of valleys and mountains, with the valleys filled with grasses and small bushes and some trees, while the coniferous forests grew on the mountains where they were not cut down by clear-cutting.
Pablo talked as if they were on a vacation, and he was the guide pointing out highlights, “All this was La Babia, one of the great ranches of Mexico. It contained almost five-hundred-thousand acres at its peak. Smaller than Don Luis Terrazas’ holdings were, but still very large.”
The scenery was beautiful, but Hunter was more interested in escaping. She watched for any opportunity, but none appeared. More hours of driving passed and RL turned on a well-maintained dirt road, saying, “This is the La Linda road. It’s long, with nothing on it but miles of desert, so take a nap if you want to.”
Hunter held up her and Adan’s cuffed wrists and said in a soft voice, “Could you take these off so we can get comfortable?”
RL almost did it, but Pablo said to him, “Hombre, we can’t do that.” Both men glanced at Hunter’s long, bare legs, and looked wistful.
RL said, “We can’t, but maybe when we get there.”
Two long, boring hours later on the dirt road, and they reached La Linda.
Chapter 13
RL drove by the abandoned and decrepit buildings and homes, on to the rise and to the small white church sitting alone on the low rise outside of the village.
When RL stopped in front of it, Ellis walked out of the building to the vehicle’s back door, and opened it. He tossed Hunter and Adan their pants and shoes. “Put ‘em on.”
Pablo gave her his full attention while she dressed, leering at Hunter when she caught him looking at her.
RL walked between Pablo and Hunter to block his view, looking at him with no smile on his face. “Go inside the church.”
“I can wait here.”
“Go inside.”
Pablo waited a second, then left them and entered the half-ruined interior of the church to disappear in a darkened interior dotted with beams of sunlight from the broken places in the roof.
RL said to Hunter, “We can go when you’re ready.” He had his back to them while they dressed.
Hunter didn’t think it would hurt, so she said, “Thank you, RL.”
He stood a bit straighter, but didn’t speak. While his back was turned, she looked around for anything that would help them. The barricaded river crossing that ended Texas Farm to Market road 2627 showed cold and rusting a half-mile from the church and across the Rio Grande. She spotted no one around, except in the distance where the sun glinted off what appeared to be a vehicle windshield. Brush masked it so well she couldn’t see the color, but the top edge of the windshield glass winked when
she turned her head slightly to the left.
Ellis stepped from the church and said, “Come on.”
RL turned and said, “We have to go.” He let her and Adan walk ahead to the church.
The interior was hard used, with burn marks from fires, and vandalism at several places on the plaster walls. She looked up at the ruined ceiling near the entrance, so damaged that Hunter could see blue sky through the pillow-sized holes.
Four men stood together in the rear corner of the church. Ellis pointed at the men and told Hunter and Adan, “Go back there. They want to talk to you.”
He pushed her and the boy toward the men. Hunter saw Winston Hart, and his son, Mike in the center of the group.
Winston drew the first word out long, “Well. The two troublemakers.”
Hunter said, “Not us. You’re the horse’s ass around here.